China - Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

The latest value for Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in China was 42.21 as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between 81.35 in 1966 and 36.49 in 2010.

Definition: Age dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents--people younger than 15 or older than 64--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.

Source: World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2019 Revision.

See also:

Year Value
1960 77.02
1961 77.26
1962 78.43
1963 79.88
1964 80.67
1965 80.51
1966 81.35
1967 81.09
1968 80.23
1969 79.47
1970 79.07
1971 79.34
1972 79.49
1973 79.49
1974 79.15
1975 78.34
1976 76.93
1977 75.21
1978 73.16
1979 70.84
1980 68.38
1981 65.60
1982 63.01
1983 60.58
1984 58.33
1985 56.36
1986 55.11
1987 54.12
1988 53.36
1989 52.71
1990 52.02
1991 52.08
1992 51.50
1993 50.63
1994 49.94
1995 49.60
1996 48.39
1997 48.00
1998 47.91
1999 47.40
2000 46.20
2001 45.25
2002 43.60
2003 41.61
2004 39.84
2005 38.57
2006 37.60
2007 37.01
2008 36.74
2009 36.60
2010 36.49
2011 36.55
2012 36.65
2013 36.83
2014 37.18
2015 37.71
2016 38.50
2017 39.44
2018 40.45
2019 41.40
2020 42.21

Development Relevance: Patterns of development in a country are partly determined by the age composition of its population. Different age groups have different impacts on both the environment and on infrastructure needs. Therefore the age structure of a population is useful for analyzing resource use and formulating future policy and planning goals with regards infrastructure and development.

Limitations and Exceptions: Because the five-year age group is the cohort unit and five-year period data are used in the United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects, interpolations to obtain annual data or single age structure may not reflect actual events or age composition. For more information, see the original source.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Dependency ratios capture variations in the proportions of children, elderly people, and working-age people in the population that imply the dependency burden that the working-age population bears in relation to children and the elderly. But dependency ratios show only the age composition of a population, not economic dependency. Some children and elderly people are part of the labor force, and many working-age people are not. Age structure in the World Bank's population estimates is based on the age structure in United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects. For more information, see the original source.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Relevance to gender indicator: this indicator implies the dependency burden that the working-age population bears in relation to children and the elderly. Many times single or widowed women who are the sole caregiver of a household have a high dependency

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Population